Burg Löwenstein

Burg Löwenstein stands on a low hill above Niedermoschel in the Donnersbergkreis. It was built in the 13th century by the Lewenstein family, ministerials who controlled nearby silver mines. The ruins sit on private farmland used today for grazing cattle. Only parts of the great hall survive, rising above tangled ivy and nettles. A narrow track climbs from the village through orchards to the gate site. The castle’s story begins with Emmerich von Lewenstein in 1227. In 1275 he and his brother pledged the fortress to Count Heinrich of Veldenz, becoming his armed retainers. Their descendants spread across the North Palatinate, founding the line of Löwenstein zu Randeck. From this house came Johannes Brenner, general vicar of Speyer diocese, and Wilhelm von Löwenstein, a 16th-century bailiff whose carved tomb survives in Deidesheim church. Both sieges of the 16th and 17th centuries left the walls in ruins. Visitors walk a grassy slope to the remaining walls of the palas. Inside, the foundations show where kitchens and living quarters once stood. Beyond the enclosure, the Donnersberg massif rises in wooded ridges. On clear days the view stretches to the Rhine plain. The farm gate is left open for walkers, but cattle graze close to the stones.